Archives par mot-clé : video

How Advanced TV Can Supercharge Your Video Strategy

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Ever since programmatic advertising came into vogue within the digital realm, marketers and agencies have been hustling to derive maximum value using the combination of digital real-time targeting and outcome-based measurement together with premium video inventory.

This application for ‘television’ has historically been more of a pipe dream, and we’ve been talking about it for years—but the future is NOW and we are finally getting our hands dirty as TV is finally catching up to digital (certainly not there yet, but progress).

Adding Automation and Targeting to Traditional TV

We like to call this progress ‘Advanced TV’, which is defined in three categories:

● Programmatic television is the automation of linear TV media buying. This combines the use of data for an index-based selection of dayparts, networks and programs. Some call any data-based buying programmatic, which confuses the matter. That said, the TV industry is very cautious with this approach having witnessed how programmatic was used to drive price down and commoditize digital inventory.
● Connected television is when brands buy ads during over-the-top (OTT) and connected platforms such as Roku and Apple TV. Although this is one-to-one based advertising, robust targeting and measurement is not quite there yet due to the lack of cookies and the non-standardization of device IDs. The goal is to convert to IP and this should be a much richer solution within the next year.
● Addressable television refers to household-level, linear TV advertising, which allows brands to target the right home with the right message. While there are limitations due to set-top-box technology, this category does allow for creative versioning in TV delivery for the first time, allowing advertisers to send personalized ads to specific audience segments.

With the data nuances available in advanced TV, we also need to move the conversation beyond simply data and targeting. With creative driving at least 50% (in some cases 70%) of the campaign’s sales impact, creative personalization needs to become a major part of the conversation.

Addressable TV Is the Best of Both Worlds

While all advanced TV approaches offer marketers a suite of benefits, addressable TV is the most effective execution because it combines the precise targeting of digital with the highest quality viewing experience.

By applying digital tools to the buying process, addressable advertisers can be much more efficient with their television spend. Rather than wasting millions of dollars on ads that will be shown to every person watching a given program, a beauty brand could spend significantly less to reach only a specific group of women in the market for that product. On top of that, that brand could segment the group of women into different categories, such as heavy mascara buyers versus heavy nail polish buyers and send ads highlighting the different products to the respective segments. Returning versus new customers can be targeted as well.

Addressable TV allows marketers to reach consumers in a far better environment than they’d find online. Whereas a digital video viewer might be in a rush to get back to whatever they were doing a moment ago, television viewers are more committed to sticking around and watching premium TV content. This creates a more engaging viewing environment, which has always been a draw of traditional TV advertising. Remember, TV is also immune to the recent digital issues around unsafe advertiser environments—you absolutely know what you’re getting here.

However, one of the best components of addressable is the ability to measure impact such as website conversion, foot traffic and actual sales lift. Using third-party measurement partners, marketers can know for certain that the people who saw their ads actually went on to buy their products. In short, marketers now know if their advertising is working. Take that Wanamaker!

Better Together: Digital Video and Addressable TV

The best way for marketers to begin using addressable TV is by including it in a cross-screen campaign with digital video. By pairing an addressable TV buy with digital video, advertisers can get television’s halo effect while simultaneously building scale with less expensive online inventory. Together, these two formats produce a cost-effective, multi-channel campaign that delivers excellent return on ad spend. What’s even more powerful is the application of real-time digital results to television. While TV outcome measurement is not real-time, we can take the immediate learnings from digital and nimbly apply to TV—which creatives are working best, refining data targets, etc.

Beyond giving brands more bang for their buck, the combination of digital video and addressable TV enables advertisers to implement a more precise, more sophisticated marketing strategy. Instead of choosing between the lean-back environment of television and the lean-in environment of digital, brands can mix and match based on what they are trying to achieve with each customer. And because addressable television allows advertisers to target people at the household level, marketers can prevent themselves from oversaturating a single consumer across TV and digital. Once the integrated campaign is finished, marketers can measure performance across both channels, allowing them to better understand the cumulative impact of their holistic video marketing strategy.

And, addressable and advanced TV are just getting started. As the technology continues to develop, we’ll be able to learn more about optimal frequency and sequence of cross-screen campaigns. Imagine when TV measurement becomes ‘real-time’ like digital—the practice of cross-screen optimization will become a reality (maybe we can even get Facebook and Google to play with us here).

For now, brands and agencies should seize the value that’s already available and begin experimenting with integrated, cross-screen campaigns. It won’t be long before advanced TV is just as important to a successful media plan as its analog predecessor.

About the author:

Brian Katz is VP of advanced TV insights and strategy at Eyeview. Katz brings more than 20 years of experience in cable, digital and broadcast to his role at Eyeview, where he leads and executes custom advanced TV solutions for Eyeview’s retail, CPG, auto and travel clients. He also leverages his experience to make addressable TV approachable for marketers who are new to the medium, and ensures the best financial outcomes for their paid media investments. Before joining Eyeview, Katz served as a senior VP of audience purchaser insights at TiVo. Katz also held multiple roles at NBCU cable and distribution units. He began his career at Paramount Domestic Television supporting sales strategy and syndicated programming for UPN.

Amazon cozies up to video publishers with marketing and tech support — and cash

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Amazon wants video publishers and creators to distribute their work on its streaming platform. And it’s providing free marketing and technical support — and in some cases, financial incentives — to make that happen.

Video publishers and creators have two primary ways to self-distribute on Amazon Prime: the Amazon Video Direct program, which allows publishers of all sizes to upload videos to the Prime subscription platform (as well as sell it directly through the Prime video store); and the Amazon Channels program, which allows media companies to sell their subscription services as add-on channels. Both are proving to be early revenue drivers for participants.

In addition to new revenue, Amazon is also providing internal support for its partners. The company has teams dedicated to both programs, with reps assigned to assisting publishing partners. (Amazon declined to specify the size of these teams.)

Within the Amazon Channels program, Amazon is taking on a lot of the marketing and infrastructure costs that go into building and maintaining a streaming video channel. Publishers can advertise their channels, but Amazon will regularly promote different subscription channels or video titles across its platform, including Amazon.com and IMDb.

“It starts as a distribution relationship, but out of that it evolves as we develop and define different marketing and strategic partnerships,” said Mark Garner, svp of distribution and digital content licensing for A+E Networks.

Amazon also integrates the channels that Prime customers have subscribed to within the Prime user interface. For instance, if a Prime customer has subscribed to Cinedigm’s Docurama — which focuses on documentary films and nonfiction shows — they will see titles from the channel right underneath featured films and shows, new releases and Amazon’s own original series.

“It puts the channels right in the midst of when someone is browsing through Prime,” said Erick Opeka, evp of digital networks for Cinedigm, which sells three subscription channels on Prime. “It’s not like you’re subscribed to a channel and unless you go into the app, you forget about it. Amazon’s designed it so that you’re constantly reminded that you’re a subscriber.”

For streaming channel partners, Amazon is also removing the burden of billing and the tech and infrastructure costs that go into building and maintaining dozens (or hundreds) of apps for different streaming TV devices.



“Currently, when customers want to watch a show, they must navigate through multiple apps or subscribe to large cable TV packages, requiring multiple accounts and extra work to find what they want,” said Rich Au, head of content acquisition for the Amazon Channels program, in a statement. “Specific to our partners, Amazon Channels is unique in that we’re handling all of the billing and customer service for them, as well as managing compatibility across hundreds of devices.”

For its work, Amazon takes a cut of subscription dollars generated through its program. As sources have previously told Digiday, the deals vary, with Amazon typically taking 30-40 percent of subscription channel revenue.

“Because they’re leveraging their existing customer base, we don’t have any operational costs of running and maintaining an app,” said Opeka. “The one downside is that you do lose that direct relationship with the customer, but the revenue potential and the ease with which you can access new customers outweigh the risks, especially in the early stages when you’re trying to grow subscribers.”

The Video Direct self-distribution program is a big initiative for Amazon as it looks to recruit more digital publishers and video creators to distribute through Prime. And any time a platform is out with a big initiative, it goes on a charm offensive — just look at how Amazon is working with publishers on Amazon Echo.

Within Video Direct, publishing partners have landing pages for all of their uploaded videos. Individual titles and themed collections are also regularly featured within the regular Prime browsing experience — amped up by an algorithm that delivers suggestions based on the user’s preferences and viewing history. This can help older videos find new life: A 10-episode short-form series comedy studio Jash produced with actress Jenny Slate in 2013 was uploaded to Amazon last summer and became one of the top-performing digital series on Prime — right around the time “The Secret Life of Pets” (starring Slate) was in theaters.

For Video Direct partners, Amazon also makes additional money available through a $1 million monthly bonus pool, which pays out to media partners based on the top-performing titles during that month.

“Revenue per view, especially if you’re a bonus performer, can be much higher and above and beyond what you’re making on YouTube,” said one longtime YouTube creator.

One area Amazon can improve is in providing deeper analytics. For both the Amazon Channels and Video Direct programs, Amazon provides a dashboard with reports on subscribers, number of minutes streamed per title and projected revenue.

“It’s not nearly as robust as YouTube in visualizing analytics and being able to get more granular with the data,” said the YouTube creator. “You also can’t do comparative analysis [against other Video Direct partners or platform-wide benchmarks] at this point.”

Still, Video Direct partners describe channel reps as being more responsive and supportive than some other platforms.

“They will send regular updates with tips to improve performance; they’ll include us in their initiatives and look to prop us up by inviting us to go speak on panels with them at Sundance,” said Mickey Meyer, co-founder of the Sarah Silverman-backed Jash. “They have been, more so than YouTube and some others, out to help us.”

Trump had undisclosed hour-long meeting with Putin at G-20 summit

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After his much-publicized two-and-a-quarter-hour meeting early this month with Russian President Vladi­mir Putin at the Group of 20 summit in Germany, President Trump chatted informally with the Russian leader for up to an additional hour later the same day.

The second meeting, undisclosed at the time, took place at a dinner for G-20 leaders, a senior administration official said. At some point during the meal, Trump left his own seat to occupy a chair next to Putin. Trump approached alone, and Putin was attended only by his official interpreter.

In a statement issued Tuesday night after published reports of the conversation, the White House said that “there was no ‘second meeting’ between President Trump and President Putin, just a brief conversation at the end of a dinner. The insinuation that the White House has tried to ‘hide’ a second meeting,” it said, “is false, malicious and absurd.”

“All the leaders” circulated around the room throughout the dinner, and “President Trump spoke with many leaders,” the statement said. “As the dinner was concluding,” it said, Trump spoke “briefly” with Putin, who was seated next to first lady Melania Trump.

The dinner conversation with Putin was first reported Monday by Ian Bremmer, president of the New York-based Eurasia Group, in a newsletter to group clients. Bremmer said the meeting began “halfway” into the meal and lasted “roughly an hour.” The senior administration official said it began with the dessert course, but did not comment on its length.

Pool reporters covering Trump noted that his and Putin’s motorcades were among the last to leave the event, departing within minutes of each other just before midnight.

Trump lashed out at the media for reporting on his undisclosed meeting with Putin, saying the “fake news” was “sick” and “dishonest.”

But the president distorted what news outlets, including The Washington Post, had reported, saying the story was about a “secret dinner” when in fact it was reported as an undisclosed meeting with Putin at a dinner of the G-20 leaders and their spouses. Trump also incorrectly stated that journalists knew about his meeting with Putin; in fact, they did not until Tuesday, when the White House confirmed that the two presidents met during the dinner.

In the first of two tweets, Trump wrote: “Fake News story of secret dinner with Putin is ‘sick.’ All G 20 leaders, and spouses, were invited by the Chancellor of Germany. Press knew!”

Trump then tweeted, “The Fake News is becoming more and more dishonest! Even a dinner arranged for top 20 leaders in Germany is made to look sinister!”

The dinner encounter appeared to underscore the extent to which Trump was eager throughout the summit to cultivate a friendship with Putin. During last year’s election campaign, he spoke admiringly of the Russian leader and at times seemed captivated by him.

Meeting each other face-to-face for the first time at the Hamburg summit, the two presidents seemed to have a chemistry in their more formal bilateral session, evidenced by the fact that, despite being scheduled for 35 minutes, it continued for more than two hours.

View Graphic How Trump is changing America’s foreign policy

But Trump’s newly revealed conversation with Putin at the G-20 dinner is likely to stoke criticism — including perhaps from some fellow Republicans in Congress — that he is too cozy with the leader of a major U.S. adversary.

Putin’s official interpreter provided the only Russian-English interpretation, the White House statement said, because the president was seated next to the wife of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. “Each couple was allowed one translator,” it said. “The American translator accompanying President Trump spoke Japanese.”

The only version of the conversation provided to White House aides was that given by Trump himself, said the administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity before the White House statement was issued. Reporters traveling with the White House were not informed during the trip, and there was no formal readout of the chat.

The official Trump-Putin meeting, earlier in the day, led to confusion over whether Trump agreed, as Putin later implied, to accept the Kremlin’s denial of any wrongdoing regarding interference in last year’s election.

That meeting was attended by the leaders and their two interpreters, along with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Tillerson later said Trump twice asked Putin if the conclusions of the U.S. intelligence community that Russia had meddled in the race were true, and Putin twice denied it, so they moved on to other subjects of importance to the bilateral relationship, including Syria.

Russia’s activities during the election, along with allegations that members of Trump’s campaign may have coordinated with Kremlin attempts to tilt the race in Trump’s direction, are the subject of investigations in Congress and by a special counsel.

In Trump’s own account of the formal meeting, he repeated earlier comments that another country might have been responsible for cyber-interference in the election. “I’m not saying it wasn’t Russia. What I’m saying is that we have to protect ourselves no matter who it is,” he told reporters on Air Force One as he returned from a visit to France last week.

“You know, China is very good at this,” Trump said. “I hate to say it, North Korea is very good at this.”

Trump also said that Putin was unlikely to have preferred him over Hillary Clinton as president, since his goals include taking international energy business away from Russia and building up the U.S. military.

The dinner at the G-20 summit, held July 7-8, occurred hours after Trump and Putin’s lengthy formal meeting. Leaders and their spouses were invited to a musical performance at Hamburg’s riverside concert venue, followed by an intimate dinner at which they were seated next to the spouse of one of their counterparts, rather than their own. Melania Trump was seated next to Putin.

Trump, who is among the newest world leaders in the G-20, remained at the dinner for the entire night. He was among the last to leave — after the host, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, had already departed. Pool reporters with the president saw Putin’s motorcade leave at 11:50 p.m., followed shortly by Trump, who departed the concert hall at 11:54 p.m.

Leaders who witnessed the meeting were “bemused, nonplussed, befuddled” by the animated conversation, held in full view — but apparently not within listening distance — of others present, Bremmer said by telephone. He said he spoke with two participants at the dinner.

One senior European official whose head of government was there played down the attention the Trump-Putin chat garnered, saying it was not unusual for leaders to circulate or “withdraw to a corner” at such private gatherings.

“Part of the rationale is the flurry of bilateral contacts that happen,” the official said. “I don’t find it a sensation,” he said of the lengthy dinner chat, although “maybe Trump and Putin are a little different” from other attendees.

The administration official said there was nothing unusual in a meeting with no aides present, noting that Trump met alone with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris and held a one-on-one session, with no aides present, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the White House.

Abby Phillip contributed to this report.

Read more:

Putin denies election hacking after Trump pressed him, Tillerson says

U.S., Russian officials meet as Kremlin accuses U.S. of ‘robbery’ over dachas

At G-20 summit, it looks more and more like Trump against the world

‘Let Obamacare Fail,’ Trump Says as GOP Health Bill Collapses

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The collapse highlighted a harsh reality for Senate Republicans: While they freely assailed the health law when Mr. Obama occupied the White House, they could not come up with a workable plan to unwind it that would keep both moderate Republicans and conservatives on board. It was an enormous embarrassment for a party that rode electoral waves to control first the House, then the Senate and then the White House, but has not been able to deliver a major legislative victory.

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“This has been a very, very challenging experience for all of us,” Mr. McConnell said. “Everybody’s given it their best shot, and as of today, we just simply do not have 50 senators who can agree on what ought to replace the existing law.”

The reaction on Wall Street was muted. Stocks spent most of the day lower as shares of health insurers declined, and the dollar, which has steadily lost ground for most of the year, slipped further.

Mr. Trump has considerable leverage to gum up the works of the Affordable Care Act. He could throw insurance markets into a tailspin at any time by cutting off the subsidy payments to insurers, as he has threatened to do. He could further destabilize the markets by not enforcing the mandate that most Americans have health insurance.

Senator Shelley Moore Capito, center, Republican of West Virginia, said she was opposed to simply repealing the Affordable Care Act without a replacement.


Doug Mills/The New York Times

And he could cancel advertising and other efforts to encourage enrollment under the Affordable Care Act when the annual sign-up period begins in November. A barrage of negative statements from the administration could project an official view that the health law is collapsing, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

The lack of certainty over the subsidy payments, which go toward reducing out-of-pocket costs for low-income people, has been a major concern for insurers. The companies say premiums will be significantly higher without the funding, and some companies that have submitted rates to sell insurance in the market next year could decide to pull out.

“With open enrollment for 2018 only three months away, our members and all Americans need the certainty and security of knowing coverage will be available and affordable for them,” said Justine Handelman, a senior executive at the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association.

While Mr. Trump has promised destruction, other Republicans signaled that they wanted to take a more constructive approach. Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, chairman of the Senate health committee, announced that he would hold hearings in the next few weeks on stabilizing the individual health insurance market.

Members of both parties have ideas about how to stabilize insurance markets and hold down premiums. One possible action is to provide money for the payments to insurers for reducing customers’ out-of-pocket costs. In addition, two Democratic senators, Thomas R. Carper of Delaware and Tim Kaine of Virginia, want the federal government to help pay the largest claims through a backstop known as reinsurance. Senators of both parties also want to help people in counties where no insurer chooses to offer health plans through the Affordable Care Act marketplace — a real possibility in some places next year.

The Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer of New York, implored Republicans to defy Mr. Trump and work with Democrats to strengthen insurance markets.

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“There’s a fork in the road for our Republican colleagues,” he said in an interview. “They can do what Donald Trump said, which is sabotage the system out of anger and out of pique,” or they can work with Democrats on improvements to the health law.

“Whether they can resist Trump, I don’t know,” Mr. Schumer said.

On Capitol Hill, Republicans and Democrats alike were trying to make sense of the repeal effort’s apparent downfall — and figure out what comes next.

The beginning of the end was on Monday night, when two Republican senators, Mike Lee of Utah and Jerry Moran of Kansas, came out in opposition to the latest version of Mr. McConnell’s bill to repeal and replace the health law. That left Republican leaders at least two votes short of what they needed to start debate.

Two other Republican senators, Ms. Collins and Rand Paul of Kentucky, had objected last week.

Mr. McConnell responded by outlining plans for a vote on a measure like the one vetoed by Mr. Obama in January 2016, which Mr. McConnell said would consist of a “repeal of Obamacare combined with a stable, two-year transition period.”

Trumpcare: How Republicans Have Tried to Sell It

Since his campaign, President Trump and the Republican Party have pushed hard for a repeal of the Affordable Care Act.


By DAVE HORN and ROBIN LINDSAY on July 18, 2017.


Photo by Stephen Crowley/The New York Times.

Watch in Times Video »

Republican leaders had originally intended to proceed with a similar “repeal and delay” strategy after Mr. Trump won the presidency. But in January, Mr. Trump made clear he wanted a simultaneous repeal and replacement of the law, and congressional Republicans decided to follow that path.

A repeal-only route would have been disruptive. The Congressional Budget Office said in January that enacting the vetoed bill would increase the number of uninsured Americans by 18 million in the first year and 32 million by 2026, compared with current law. Premiums, it said, would increase 20 to 25 percent in the first year and double by 2026.

That bill would have eliminated the Affordable Care Act’s expansion of Medicaid and subsidies for the purchase of private insurance. But it would have left in place the law’s requirement that insurers provide specific benefits, and the prohibition on denying coverage or charging higher premiums because of a person’s pre-existing medical conditions.

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The repeal-only idea quickly ran into a wall on Tuesday.

“I did not come to Washington to hurt people,” Ms. Capito said in a statement, taking issue with both Mr. McConnell’s bill and the idea of repealing the health law “without a replacement plan that addresses my concerns and the needs of West Virginians.”

Ms. Murkowski said, “There’s enough chaos and uncertainty already, and this would just contribute to it.”

Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, announced her opposition to the latest health care push.


Eric Thayer for The New York Times

The idea of repealing the health law without providing a replacement also spooked a bipartisan group of 11 governors, including Brian Sandoval of Nevada, an influential Republican critic of Mr. McConnell’s bill.

“The Senate should immediately reject efforts to ‘repeal’ the current system and replace sometime later,” said the group, which included five Republicans, five Democrats and one independent. “This could leave millions of Americans without coverage. The best next step is for both parties to come together and do what we can all agree on: fix our unstable insurance markets.”

Mr. McConnell appears determined to drive the effort to a final public showdown with a procedural vote that would let the Senate consider the repeal-only measure. He can afford to lose only two Republican senators, with Vice President Mike Pence breaking the tie. But he already appears to have lost at least three: Ms. Collins, Ms. Murkowski and Ms. Capito.

More could still defect, unwilling to be recorded voting for a procedural step in what is all but certain to be a doomed exercise. But that could be an awkward stance for Republicans who voted for the repeal bill that the Senate passed in 2015 and Mr. Obama vetoed.

“If you’re not willing to vote the same way you voted in 2015,” Mr. Paul said on Tuesday, “then you need to go back home, and you need to explain to Republicans why you’re no longer for repealing Obamacare.”


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TechBytes with Doron Sherman, Vice President Evangelism at Cloudinary

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TechBytes with Doron Sherman

Doron Sherman, Vice President Evangelism at Cloudinary

Last month, the leading Content Management solution provider Cloudinary announced its partnership with WebPagetest. Together with WebPagetest, Cloudinary is providing measurable and actionable information about how to go beyond simple compression to optimize web performance. The Cloudinary Website Speed Test Image Analysis Tool will enable WebPagetest users to discover how changes to image size, format selection, quality and encoding parameters can drastically improve website speed and ultimately result in a better user experience for web visitors. We spoke to Doron Sherman, Vice President Evangelism at Cloudinary to understand the rise of visual internet and the optimization of content delivery networks.

MTS: Tell us about the size of your marketing team? Which are your current markets?

Doron Sherman: Currently, there are five people on the marketing team and several contractors. In terms of markets, Cloudinary benefits businesses that operate a website with a lot of assets that need to be managed, in particular images and videos. Cloudinary is particularly essential for any business where user experience of its website and mobile app properties impacts business performance. For those, Cloudinary improves page load time via optimal delivery of high-quality content, personalized for each and every user, based on device type, network bandwidth, and geographical location. That said, we see the strongest demand for our services in the e-commerce vertical.

Recommended Read: Content Management Systems with Web Analytics Social Media Integrations Key to Industry

MTS: Cloudinary uses advanced algorithms for Image Management. Could you elaborate further on the technology? Does it run on AI/ML?

Doron Sherman: Cloudinary shows users how to encode, optimize, and resize images, and the impact that will have on page load time. Cloudinary takes into account many factors, from device type and viewport size to the type of browser on which the image is viewed. Advanced algorithms, including the use of AI and machine learning, are dynamically employed to achieve results that otherwise are only possible via manual human editing and decision making. For example, Cloudinary can automatically detect the type of image content in order to encode it in the optimal format and quality settings. Another example is art direction where Cloudinary performs face detection (or objects of prime interest) within the image in order to automatically crop the region of interest. Yet another example is calculating image breakpoints for optimal delivery of images according to responsive design principles (responsive images). Our customers expect us to continue releasing smart features that save them from tedious manual work and that means Cloudinary will increase use of AI and machine learning going forward.

Read Also: Arkadium Brings Artificial Intelligence to Content Generation

MTS: Do you offer integrations with any of the marketing automation and cloud platforms?

Doron Sherman: Integration with marketing automation solutions isn’t currently available out of the box. However, Cloudinary offers open REST APIs following standard URL syntax that can easily integrate into any platform and programming environment. We have customers doing that today without our help. In some cases, we engage our solutions team to customize such integrations for customer projects. Last but not least, the developer community releases third-party integrations created as open-source projects that albeit not commercially supported by Cloudinary, are valuable for implementing system integrations.

Read Also: Social Native Unveils Content Optimization Engine; Becomes the Youngest Instagram Content Marketing Partner

MTS: Considering the increasing focus marketers now give to User Experience, do you think videos will ultimately replace images as digital assets in next few months?

Doron Sherman: I don’t see that happening wholesale anytime soon but interest in video content is growing in a number of application segments, particularly those involving social sharing and social networking. Currently, images are 60 percent of a website’s weight, and we are still seeing developers and companies struggle to get those properly optimized.

Video presents an even bigger challenge of content management and optimized delivery, an area in which Cloudinary keeps investing heavily to offer compelling solutions that are flexible and easy-to-use. A big part of the challenge is providing a satisfactory user experience on mobile devices that entail unreliable communication bandwidth and a wide variety of device types (in terms of both computing power and display resolutions).

Cloudinary is focused on technology that enables striking the right balance to effectively display high-quality video content utilizing file sizes that adhere to the prevailing end-user delivery constraints. It’s important to note that the internet is not an unlimited resource and isn’t currently setup to support the amount of bandwidth required for everyone to switch over to large video content.

Recommended Read: 5 Ways to Disrupt Video Marketing in 2017

MTS: How do you see the B2B video marketing market evolving with the advent of new technologies? How is Cloudinary positioning itself for the competition?

Doron Sherman: Marketers are relying more and more on video content because it is a new and effective way to engage with consumers, but the current way we leverage video content is unwieldy and time-consuming. Most marketers have to drop video content into a file share service like Dropbox to share content because they aren’t able to send these size files over traditional methods, such as email. It is also important to make sure you are using modern video formats such as WEBM vs GIF, which is a 30-year-old format.

At Cloudinary we were ahead of the curve as we started working on video optimization in 2015. We offer the same solutions for video content as we do for images, helping our users to optimize their media without sacrificing the quality of what is being delivered. As we look towards some exciting announcements in the pipeline for this year, we plan to make the management of video content even easier.

Read Also: Searchmetrics Content Experience Creates New Paradigm For B2B Content Marketers and Story-Tellers

MTS: Thanks for taking the time to chat with us Doron. We look forward to having at MarTech Series again for more insights.

Stay tuned for more on business insights on marketing automation, content marketing, video ad tech, programmatic and header-bidding technologies. To participate in our Tech Bytes program, email us at news@martechseries.com




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Kim Kardashian Can’t Escape Ray J After Racy New Home Video Surfaces!

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Ten years after Kim Kardashian‘s sex tape first surfaced, more footage from that sexy vacation with Ray J has leaked. Yes, one decade later, we are still talking about Kim and Brandy’s little brother.

In the new home video, released by Radar Online, Kim can be seen cheering on her boyfriend at a bar as he gives a mystery blonde a lap dance. Shouting « take it off » in the background, a then 23-year-old Kim cheers on her man as he takes off his shirt and shows off his washboard abs before joining him on stage. For more NSFW details about the tape, check out the video below.

MORE: Ray J Claims Kim Kardashian Cheated on Him During Their Relationship — « She Was a Player »

The KUWTK star has always denied leaking the original sex tape, Kim K Superstar, but did express regret about the home video. “You know, I think that’s how I was definitely introduced to the world,” she told Oprah Winfrey of the XXX video. “It was a negative way, so I felt like I really had to work 10 times harder to get people to see the real me.”

She continued, « I have to live with the choices I have made,” she said. “And I can’t dwell on it.”

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Comcast’s Head of Multicultural Services, Javier Garcia to Spotlight What’s Trending for Hispanic Cable Consumers at …

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NEW YORK, NY (July 18, 2017) – How the cable TV industry now offers more value and services for Hispanic subscribers than ever before will be the key topic of a special one-on-one discussion and presentation at the 15th Annual Hispanic Television Summit featuring Javier Garcia, Comcast Cable’s Senior Vice President and General Manager for Multicultural Services.   Attendees of the Summit, presented by NewBay Media’s Broadcasting Cable and Multichannel News, will be treated to the unique perspective from the industry’s leader of what’s trending now, and what is on the horizon for Hispanic consumers of pay TV, video, phone and internet services.

Comcast Cable serves some of the largest Hispanic markets in the U.S. and therefore reaches a significant percentage of Latino television and internet households in America. The company has long been successful in its approach to attracting and retaining Latino consumers as their customers.  This one-on-one conversation and presentation will offer fresh perspectives on the company’s latest strategies and upcoming initiatives to serve its growing number of Hispanics in their customer base. 

Garcia is responsible for multicultural programming, as well as directing, designing and implementing Comcast’s multicultural services strategy across Xfinity’s Video, Internet, Voice and Home products. He drives the long-term product vision and strategy and collaborates with various Comcast divisions to develop competitive pricing, positioning and marketing strategies.

“Javier is a great addition to our line-up of featured speakers at this year’s Hispanic Television Summit,” said Louis Hillelson, Group Publisher and Vice President of NewBay Media’s Broadcasting Cable and Multichannel News. He continued, “Javier and his team at Comcast set the industry standard in so many ways. Our attendees will be able to get the latest trend information, fresh ideas, pricing strategies, and hopefully some inspiration for serving Hispanics.”

The 15th Annual Hispanic Television Summit, will be presented by NewBay Media’s Broadcasting Cable and Multichannel News on Thursday October 19, 2017 at the Sheraton New York Hotel. The Summit is the most popular, and longest running annual event for executives in the business of television and video for Hispanic audiences, worldwide. It attracts nearly 500 executives from the U.S., Latin America and Europe. The Summit was created fifteen years ago, by Joe Schramm and has been produced for Broadcasting Cable and Multichannel News every year since by the Schramm Marketing Group.   This year, the Summit will be one of a series of conferences and events to be presented by NewBay Media during NYC Television Week, October 16-19, 2017.  

To enjoy the early bird rate for this Summit, register by Monday, September 11, 2017 at https://nbmedia.swoogo.com/TVWEEK2017.

To learn more about the 15th Annual Hispanic Television Summit, visit www.hispanictvsummit.com.

About NEWBAY MEDIA

NewBay Media is positioned at the center of the world’s most dynamic industries — Music, AV/Pro Audio, Consumer Electronics/Gaming, Video Broadcast and Education. We connect and inform millions of constituents in these industries through our award-winning content, integrated media capabilities and high-profile network-building and informative events. NewBay proudly serves some of the broadest B-to-B professional and music enthusiast communities in the world through over 35 print and digital publications, more than 35 integrated web and mobile applications, more than 60 e-newsletters, over 50 conferences and conventions, custom marketing services and e-commerce capabilities. Find out more at www.newbaymedia.com

About Schramm Marketing Group

Schramm is a marketing agency that specializes in multicultural and segmented marketing, ticket sales promotions, and producing conferences for the television and video industry. The company is recognized for its expertise in attracting large, sold-out crowds for international soccer and for driving pay TV subscription sales.  They recently launched Fantastico.nyc where Latinos buy tickets online in Spanish. Schramm created and produces the Hispanic Television Summit as well as other internationally-recognized conferences.  Schramm’s clients include the leading brands in sports, television, entertainment, telecommunications, and non-profits.  For more information, visit www.schrammnyc.com

Reducing Manpower: 13 Marketing Processes You Can Automate Or Outsource Today

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Are you seeking a way to reduce internal manpower without cutting back on your marketing efforts?

If so, it may be time to look into automation and outsourcing.

It can be difficult to automate and/or outsource marketing processes, as “having a hand in the action” allows you to feel more in control.

Even if you decide to move in this direction, it doesn’t mean you will completely remove yourself from the marketing side of your business. It simply means that you’re getting help where you need it the most.

Here are 13 marketing processes you can automate or outsource today:

1. Email Marketing

Did you know that approximately 205 billion email messages are sent every day?

Not all of these contain a marketing message, but many of them do. If you’re spending too much time on email marketing, such as by tracking results and sending follow-ups, you can automate the process through one of many platforms.

2. Content Writing

When it comes to inbound marketing, more than half of marketing professionals say that blog content is at the top of their to-do list.

There is no software you can use to create high-quality content, but you can automate the process by outsourcing this task to a professional writer.

3. Social Media

With 70% of Americans using social media every day, you can’t ignore this marketing strategy.

Automate your social media efforts to ensure that you’re always providing your audience with high-quality content. An example of this would be scheduling posts in advance, as to keep your pipeline full.

4. SEO

SEO has changed a lot over the years, with marketers paying close attention to what they should and shouldn’t be doing.

There are several high-end SEO automation solutions to consider, including those that assist with on-site optimization.

5. Video Marketing

Video marketing continues to pick up steam, which explains why many companies are outsourcing development and production to experienced professionals.

With video accounting for a large portion of online traffic, you can’t afford to miss out.

6. Design and Visual Content

Are you in need of an infographic? How about a nicely designed PDF to share with prospects?

Unless you have a designer on staff, it’s best to outsource this marketing task.

With 37% of marketers noting that visual marketing is their most important form of content, you shouldn’t wait any longer to find help in this area.

7. Lead Generation

You implement a marketing plan to generate leads. It’s as simple as that.

If you can successfully automate or outsource this task, you should be happy with the end result. Simply put, the more leads you generate the better you’ll feel about the future.

Amazon cozies up to video publishers with marketing and tech …

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Amazon wants video publishers and creators to distribute their work on its streaming platform. And it’s providing free marketing and technical support — and in some cases, financial incentives — to make that happen.

Video publishers and creators have two primary ways to self-distribute on Amazon Prime: the Amazon Video Direct program, which allows publishers of all sizes to upload videos to the Prime subscription platform (as well as sell it directly through the Prime video store); and the Amazon Channels program, which allows media companies to sell their subscription services as add-on channels. Both are proving to be early revenue drivers for participants.

In addition to new revenue, Amazon is also providing internal support for its partners. The company has teams dedicated to both programs, with reps assigned to assisting publishing partners. (Amazon declined to specify the size of these teams.)

Within the Amazon Channels program, Amazon is taking on a lot of the marketing and infrastructure costs that go into building and maintaining a streaming video channel. Publishers can advertise their channels, but Amazon will regularly promote different subscription channels or video titles across its platform, including Amazon.com and IMDb.

“It starts as a distribution relationship, but out of that it evolves as we develop and define different marketing and strategic partnerships,” said Mark Garner, svp of distribution and digital content licensing for A+E Networks.

Amazon also integrates the channels that Prime customers have subscribed to within the Prime user interface. For instance, if a Prime customer has subscribed to Cinedigm’s Docurama — which focuses on documentary films and nonfiction shows — they will see titles from the channel right underneath featured films and shows, new releases and Amazon’s own original series.

“It puts the channels right in the midst of when someone is browsing through Prime,” said Erick Opeka, evp of digital networks for Cinedigm, which sells three subscription channels on Prime. “It’s not like you’re subscribed to a channel and unless you go into the app, you forget about it. Amazon’s designed it so that you’re constantly reminded that you’re a subscriber.”

For streaming channel partners, Amazon is also removing the burden of billing and the tech and infrastructure costs that go into building and maintaining dozens (or hundreds) of apps for different streaming TV devices.



Trimming the fat: Streaming skinny bundles are all the rage, but for how long?

Some consumers have opted for streaming skinny bundles with fewer channels over pricier cable packages, but the sustainability of these bundles is in question.

“Currently, when customers want to watch a show, they must navigate through multiple apps or subscribe to large cable TV packages, requiring multiple accounts and extra work to find what they want,” said Rich Au, head of content acquisition for the Amazon Channels program, in a statement. “Specific to our partners, Amazon Channels is unique in that we’re handling all of the billing and customer service for them, as well as managing compatibility across hundreds of devices.”

For its work, Amazon takes a cut of subscription dollars generated through its program. As sources have previously told Digiday, the deals vary, with Amazon typically taking 30-40 percent of subscription channel revenue.

“Because they’re leveraging their existing customer base, we don’t have any operational costs of running and maintaining an app,” said Opeka. “The one downside is that you do lose that direct relationship with the customer, but the revenue potential and the ease with which you can access new customers outweigh the risks, especially in the early stages when you’re trying to grow subscribers.”

The Video Direct self-distribution program is a big initiative for Amazon as it looks to recruit more digital publishers and video creators to distribute through Prime. And any time a platform is out with a big initiative, it goes on a charm offensive — just look at how Amazon is working with publishers on Amazon Echo.

Within Video Direct, publishing partners have landing pages for all of their uploaded videos. Individual titles and themed collections are also regularly featured within the regular Prime browsing experience — amped up by an algorithm that delivers suggestions based on the user’s preferences and viewing history. This can help older videos find new life: A 10-episode short-form series comedy studio Jash produced with actress Jenny Slate in 2013 was uploaded to Amazon last summer and became one of the top-performing digital series on Prime — right around the time “The Secret Life of Pets” (starring Slate) was in theaters.

For Video Direct partners, Amazon also makes additional money available through a $1 million monthly bonus pool, which pays out to media partners based on the top-performing titles during that month.

“Revenue per view, especially if you’re a bonus performer, can be much higher and above and beyond what you’re making on YouTube,” said one longtime YouTube creator.

One area Amazon can improve is in providing deeper analytics. For both the Amazon Channels and Video Direct programs, Amazon provides a dashboard with reports on subscribers, number of minutes streamed per title and projected revenue.

“It’s not nearly as robust as YouTube in visualizing analytics and being able to get more granular with the data,” said the YouTube creator. “You also can’t do comparative analysis [against other Video Direct partners or platform-wide benchmarks] at this point.”

Still, Video Direct partners describe channel reps as being more responsive and supportive than some other platforms.

“They will send regular updates with tips to improve performance; they’ll include us in their initiatives and look to prop us up by inviting us to go speak on panels with them at Sundance,” said Mickey Meyer, co-founder of the Sarah Silverman-backed Jash. “They have been, more so than YouTube and some others, out to help us.”